Knock yourself out
by zephyr-lynx
Summary: A little RotBTD/Jarida AU based on the movie 'The Internship', where Aster and North are the two confused 'adults' in the group, and Hiccup the supervisor, while Jack, Merida and Rapunzel are the other interns. They have to design an app, but they are stuck because of the pressure put on them, and to relax, they go out, but the evening takes a slightly unexpected term.


Since I think this website really lacks Jarida fics, I decided to post the ones I wrote for Tumblr. Might take a while to upload them all, because I still have no clue how this website works.

Here is one of my personal favourites, based on the movie 'The Internship'. I recommend listen to the song 'Cooler Than Me' by Mike Posner (one day, I'll find out how to put links into this - today is _not_ that day), because it appears in the story for a moment.

* * *

A night out? Aren't we supposed to develop an app?" Jack asked, but he didn't sound really enthusiastic.  
"Blablabla. You guys are so down at the moment that we will never come up with something that is halfway okay. You need to take your minds off this business for just one night, alright?" Aster said.  
North jumped onto his bandwagon. "So, let's go to dinner somewhere and look what the night will bring."  
The four young adults fell silent for a moment.  
Hiccup was the first one to agree. "You're right. This will never work out now."  
"Let's go." Rapunzel backed him up.  
Jack and Merida exchanged a look. Well, it couldn't damage anything.

North finished a heavy speech in Russian and earned roaring laughter from the guests sitting around them, while the people on his own table looked pretty much clueless.  
"Have you any idea what he's talking about?" Rapunzel asked Aster.  
"No idea. When he starts with the Russian, I am useless. The only thing he ever taught me was this." Aster let out a tirade of Russian words.  
The reaction was imminent. An older lady on the next table slapped him on the back of his head and said in broken English: "You keep your potty mouth for yourself!"  
The interns and their supervisor started laughing, while Aster looked flabbergasted. "I guess that means he didn't teach me a flirting method."  
The younger folks laughed even harder, and North turned back to them. "What's it now?"  
"Aster tried to impress us with his great Russian knowledge." Hiccup grinned.  
North tried to bite back a smile himself. "What Russian knowledge?"  
"Ha. Hahaha. You think you're funny, hmm?" Aster grumbled.  
"What? I didn't do a thing." And North started whistling in all seriousness.  
"I would say 'I hate your country', but doing that in a Russian restaurant filled with Russians might be a bad idea."  
"Come on, Aster, at least you've got to admit that the food is great." Jack was fighting with a brochette with meat and almost impaled his own hand.  
"Unfortunately, it is excellent." Aster angrily sipped his soup.  
"What are we doing next?" Rapunzel asked eagerly.  
North asked the waiter for the bill and then got back at them. "Hey, that guy says there is a good dance club just a few streets further."  
"I don't dance." Jack and Merida said simultaneously, causing the others to laugh.  
Rapunzel grinned. "What are we waiting for then?"

The loud pop music rolled over them as soon as they entered the club, but that was only the first thing that struck their attention.  
Hiccup's eyebrows jerked up. "Are you sure the guy said _dance_ club?"  
"Because I am pretty sure this is not a dance club…in the usual sense of the word." Aster said dry-wittedly.  
A beautiful woman walked up to them, her curves brought out by the tight corset she was wearing.  
The company had surprise and disbelief in different grades written on their faces – except for Jack, whose brows were frowned over his phone.  
Aster sighed unnerved. "Oh, Jack, you are hopeless. Head up. Just three inches, I'm begging you."  
He put his hand beneath Jack's chin and raised it up. Jack opened his mouth to protest – and then his glance met the woman's cleavage. His jaw dropped.  
"Any questions?" Aster commented.  
The woman gave Jack a mocking look and then took his hand. She moved it up to her mouth and wrapped her lips around his index. She licked it from base to top and released his finger again.  
Jack shivered, took a step back and adjusted his glasses. "Damn, that was deep."  
Her grin was mocking him. "Can I now show you your table?"  
"Oh, this is so cool!" Rapunzel exclaimed, being the first one who followed the girl. Hiccup and Jack were almost shoved after her by North's hard grasp.  
Merida was the only one who didn't look even a little excited. Aster gave her a strange look.  
"I've never figured that from you and Rapunzel, she'd be the less…prudish."  
"I am not prudish, Aster!" she objected.  
"…but?" he asked gently.  
"Punz is my roommate. I've gotten to know her pretty well. She's got this boyfriend since she's eighteen, she's not unused to any of this. Me, on the other hand…you know, I've read a lot about this…stuff, a lot of it even - there are some weird stories on the internet about sex…things that could never exist in real life…so technically I know how it works…but I've never done any of it myself, except for like two, three short pecks on the lips in various party games." Merida bit her lip.  
"Oh." Aster commented surprised. He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her. "Then come on. Those fantasy things are muuuuuuuuuuch worse than anything you will see here, I guarantee you."  
"You sure?" she asked doubtfully.  
"More than sure."  
They joined the other ones at their table. It was right in front of a kind of glass wall. Behind it was a girl dancing on a pole, water dripping down onto her from the ceiling.  
"Oh, you're coming right at time for shots!" Jack said cheerfully as they sat down.  
"Great. I need this now." Merida said and passed the waitress which just put the tray down onto the table, snatching a glass from the tablet.  
"Shots?" Rapunzel asked. "What? No!"  
"I can't believe you have no objections to be here, but doing shots is a no-go?" Jack said.  
"Oh, come on, Punz!" Hiccup said "What is it? Did your mother forbid you that too?"  
"As a matter of fact…yes."  
"What? Rapunzel, a little alcohol won't kill you." North said.  
"My mother says it makes the brain numb."  
"Okay, listen up, little one. I'm not saying alcohol is the solution for anything. I'm just saying that you can have a little fun without her peering over your shoulders all the time."  
"Come on." Merida encouraged her.  
Rapunzel look at the others, grinning at her with their glasses in their hands. She took a deep breath and picked up the last remaining glass. "Okay."  
They chinked glasses and raised them to their mouths in a synced gesture.  
Rapunzel swallowed the bitter liquid and gasped. "Oh my God!"  
Merida laughed out loud. "You okay?"  
"I like this drink." Rapunzel giggled. "Another!" She smashed the glass to her feet.  
"Wow." Jack said, reluctantly impressed. "She is so not used to booze in her system."

After the fifth round of shots, Hiccup was grinning like a madman who'd just had the best idea in the world. "Is any of you up for pizza?"  
"Pizza? Hiccup, it's like two in the morning." Jack laughed.  
"They sell pizza at the bar." North remembered.  
"You've got to be kidding." Aster said dry-wittedly.  
"Let's get pizza." Hiccup challenged his mentor.  
"That's a great idea!" North exclaimed as if he'd never heard that before.  
The two of them stood up and headed for the bar, leaving the other four in amazement.  
"Well, so much for that." Aster meant.  
"Yeah, tacos would be so much better right now than pizza." Jack agreed.  
Merida and Rapunzel started laughing, and after a while they were laughing and chatting about god and the world in general and Google in particular, all in the slight babbling of those who'd had one shot too much.  
Meanwhile, Rapunzel managed something none of them had ever seen before. She fell asleep right on the little couch she was sitting on, snuggled against Aster's shoulder, as if the loud music and laughing and speaking didn't bother her at all.  
And the other three only noticed it because she started snoring half an hour later.  
"Now I feel kind of bad. How long has she been asleep?" Merida asked concerned.  
"No. Idea." Aster wanted to shrug, but he was afraid it might wake her up.  
A mischievous smirk spread on Jack's face. "Has any of you-"  
Merida had already slipped a pen out of her purse. "I want to draw the first line."  
"-a pen?" Jack finished his question. "What? No, it was my idea!"  
"Oh, come on, Jack, the idea has crossed even my mind too. You were just the first one to speak it out loud." Aster said. "Guys, that's mean. You're not in high school anymore."  
"We don't act like we're in high school." Jack protested.  
"Yes, if we did, I would've pulled out my sharpie." Merida added.  
Jack laughed as she leaned forward and drew a thin moustache on Rapunzel's face. Since she wasn't completely sober, to put it nicely, it had a pretty heavy list.  
"Not too much." Aster stepped in. "One item each."  
"Wow, you really try to keep us in control." Jack took Merida's pen out of her hands and created a more elaborate drawing.  
When he was finished, Merida and Aster gave each other weird looks.  
"Whaaaaaaaat is that supposed to be?" Aster asked.  
"It's a rainbow pony." Jack said in all seriousness.  
"It looks like a hardly recognizable chameleon." Merida decided.  
"I'm an IT specialist, not a painter. There is a reason why I'm here."  
"Apropos here, where are Hiccup and North?"  
"Their pizza probably takes long to bake." Merida provided an explanation.  
"Or maybe the pizza is baked. Like stoned." Jack said seriously.  
Merida tried to bite back a laugh.  
Aster facepalmed. "I think you're our rainbow pony, Jack. Hand over that pen."  
Jack and Merida watched incredulous as Aster drew pupils onto Rapunzel's lashes.  
"What?" he asked "I said one item each. Also, maybe she'll forget to wipe it off and we can extend the fun for a day or two."  
"Those were words of wisdom." Merida said with her jaw dropped.  
"I am very sorry, but you must bump your fist into mine now." Jack said and reached his hand out to Aster.

"Another beer? Haven't you had enough?" North asked.  
"Nah, I can handle that." Hiccup said, waving his hands through the air.  
"The pizza takes a long, long time." the older man grumbled.  
"Let's watch the girls instead." Hiccup proposed.  
"Your guts grow parallel to the amount of alcohol in your blood, don't they?"  
"A little, yes."  
They stood next to the major stage, right in time for the next dancer.  
She was standing next to the pole, her back turned to them, her red lingerie dark against her fair skin, her blonde hair running down her back. She swayed slowly to the tact. The music got faster and faster, until the lights flashed and she whirled around.  
Hiccup gasped and stumbled backwards.  
North frowned. "Isn't that your self-defence teacher? The one you fancy?"  
"Astrid." Hiccup whispered so lowly that the other man almost couldn't hear him. "Oh my Goooood." the tech genius let out air he had unknowingly held in.  
The young woman let her gaze wander over the crowd and met his green eyes. She froze for a little moment, and Hiccup clumsily raised his hand and waved.  
"This is like a dream come true." Hiccup whispered. "But in the dream, it wasn't that embarrassing!"  
"But that's good. You can talk to her after she's finished."  
"No, I can't! I don't know how!"  
"Then try."  
"But she will never talk to me. I'm a nerd, North. I'm not cool, not strong, not talented with anything but a keyboard!"  
"Sometimes, it's best just being you. Your usual you is 'awesome', how your young folks use to say. You're funny, you're nice, and any girl could be lucky having you by her side. And if you're not doing it, I will force you."  
"You wouldn't do that."  
"Don't challenge me, boy."  
Hiccup made a desperate face. He had no chance against this human wardrobe.

A door next to their table opened, and the girl from inside the shower scene walked out.  
"I am very sorry, my shift is over. The girl who should spell me called in sick at the last minute. You're the last ones left on this spot, would it be okay to leave it just empty?"  
Jack, who was staring at her, didn't answer.  
"Yes, of course." Aster said and smiled friendlily at her.  
"Though…" Merida seemed to have an idea. "Can you leave it open? I would like to try it out."  
Aster almost spit out his drink.  
The woman looked incredulous at her. "The shower?"  
"Yes. I mean, nobody's here. Nobody cares about it. And I am a little tipsy, so…"  
The woman rolled her eyes. "Knock yourself out. Just try not to wreck anything." And she walked away.  
"Are you serious?" Aster asked concerned, the impact his words a little destroyed by the coloured face of Rapunzel still leaned against his shoulder.  
"I just want to see how it feels, I'm not going to strip, Aster. Get yourself together."  
And she stood up, climbed over Jack's legs and went to the door.  
Jack looked as if his brain had stopped providing him information.  
"Did she…did she just say what I believe she said?" he whispered, sliding his glasses back up his nose with slightly shaking hands.  
"Does it matter?" Aster raised an eyebrow.  
"I don't think I'm ready for this." Jack said and slid deeper into the little couch.  
Aster shot him a confused glance.  
Merida stepped into the little room. It was bright in there, with the gleaming silver pole in the middle of it. The water was warmer than she'd expected, but she surprisingly came up with an explanation in her slightly dazed brain. Hotter water produces steam – and kept the girls from catching a cold.  
The hot water slowly trickled down onto her. The drops cascaded down her curls and sept into her navy blue summer dress. She raised her arms up and ran her fingers through her hair.  
Jack on the outside gulped hard.  
Aster looked amused at him. "It's another side of her, isn't it?"  
"When you work with someone, you tend to forget that they can be…" he gesticulated towards the glass front "…this. Hell, I didn't see that coming."  
Aster laughed. "Are you embarrassed?"  
"A little, but…_wow_." He couldn't keep his eyes off her.  
"Wow indeed." Aster said through the snoring of Rapunzel.  
Merida felt astonishing good, at the same time insecure and very confident. She'd never had problems with her body, because, frankly, she didn't care what people thought about her. She had always been curvy, with broad hips and rather small breasts. And in her opinion, that was part of her charm.  
Her hand slid down the pole. It was glistening with water, and Merida's respect for the dancers in here grew. How could they be that secure here, without falling in this slick environment?  
She leaned her back against the pole, and of course, she'd underrated how slippery it was. She skidded down in an abrupt movement. Instinctively, her hands jerked up over her head and clamped around the bar, slowing her fall down. She stopped herself, perched there onto her toes with her back against the pole, her bare arms stretched out.  
Merida breathed heavily, her chest hovering up and down from the sudden fall. What a surprise.  
She shot their table a glance and met Jack's hazel eyes behind his glasses. His jaw had dropped at her sudden move, and his expression made her laugh.  
Merida winked teasingly at him.  
Jack's reaction was imminent – he averted his eyes, his fingers dug into the soft fabric of the couch and he crossed his legs in a quick gesture.  
She laughed again and slowly stood up again, concentrating on not falling yet another time.  
His glance wandered back to her, almost involuntarily, and he let his breath out shakily.  
Aster's looked at him, grinning like an idiot.

"You can do that."  
"I can do that."  
"Just be yourself."  
"Just be myself." Hiccup hesitated. "But North, being me sucks!"  
"Bah, pish-posh." North took matters in his own hands – quite literally – and pushed Hiccup into the direction of the young woman, who was sitting at the bar now, her lingerie covered by a thin silken bathrobe.  
Of course, Hiccup tripped and almost banged his head on the counter.  
The blonde girl looked surprised at him, and then she blushed faintly.  
"Hi." Hiccup panted and looked up to her.  
"Hello." she smiled at him.  
"Uhm…I don't know if you remember me…I was in your course once and…well…"  
"Oh. No, I'm sorry, I don't remember you. You work at Google?"  
Hiccup scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I do. I just wanted to drop by and tell you…well, you…you're good. I mean, you look good. Wait – I don't mean that superficially. What, no, not as superficially as it sounds. It's not like it sounds. You look good, but that's not everything. What a bunch of nonsense. Sorry. Okay. What I actually wanted to say. You looked absolutely amazing up on that stage and in the course. And that's why it's weird you don't remember me. Because I am the absolute contrary of that. I've never tried dancing, and that's probably for the best, but those sixty minutes in your course were probably the most embarrassing I've ever experienced."  
Her face had lightened up more and more during his little speech, until she broke into laughter at his few last sentences. "Now I find it disastrous I can't remember you, because that sounds extremely funny. Actually, I thought it was super embarrassing dancing up there with someone who seemed to recognize me and I didn't know who you were!"  
"It really is a disaster that you can't remember me. My fidgeting should've been burned into your brains. That's how bad I am."  
"I don't believe you." She smiled.  
"Wait." Hiccup raised his arms into a defence position and then started waving his hands through the air.  
His dialogue partner held her stomach from laughter. "Okay, okay! I'm convinced, I'm convinced! I will never get this out of my head again! Just stop!"  
Hiccup paused in his exaggerated gestures and smiled lightly at her. "My name's Hiccup."  
"I am Astrid. Studying psychology, that's why I have the two jobs – bills. So, if you're not humiliating yourself in a club, you're a tech genius?"  
"A little, yes. Actually…"  
Two spots further at the bar, North sipped at his appletini and smirked. Being Hiccup seemed to work though.

Merida slowly whirled around, her wet curls softly draping over her shoulders. She felt a chill breeze caressing her and then perceived Jack leaning against the doorframe.  
"Care if I join you?" he asked, his eyebrows sarcastically raised. She could see he was trying his hardest not to stare.  
"Wasn't it good enough from the outside?" Merida commented as he walked in.  
Jack avoided her eyes. "It was a little weird with Aster and a sleeping Rapunzel. Also, this looks like fun." His hand wrapped around the pole. "Maybe I can do it too."  
Merida laughed. "I'd love to see you try. Knock yourself out."  
"I'll try not to. Wha-!" His hand had already slipped from the pole and he landed uncomfortably on the wet floor.  
"Elegant." Merida said mockingly.  
"As if you were any better." he shot back.  
"Wasn't I?" Her hands travelled from her thighs up, taking the navy blue cloth of her dress along. Just before it could reveal anything, she let it drop. Her fingers still traced up her upper body, leaving marks in her drenched dress.  
To distract himself from her, Jack stood up quickly. The bottom of his pants was soaked from the water, the cloth sticking to his skin, and Merida couldn't help but stare for a little while.  
Jack looked up and met her glance. She blushed and he smirked cunningly.  
"I think we're both a little too drunk for that kind of things."  
"Speak for yourself. I'm Scottish, I can hold my liquor."  
"That means you would've stared if you were sober too?" he asked.  
She deflected his question. "And you weren't staring at all? It was pretty clear from my point of view."  
"Yes, but it seems when you've had a little enough, you're provocation on two feet."  
She raised her eyebrows. "Am I?"  
"Provocation…" he seemed to remember something "Wait a sec."  
Jack knelt down next to the glass front and breathed on it. Merida leaned back against the pole and watched. What was he doing?  
Aster on the other side gave him a weird look. Jack pressed himself against the window and licked the glass. Aster's jaw dropped and he turned his face demonstratively away from them, disgust written all over it.  
"Did you…did you just go all stripper on Aster?" Merida asked incredulous, trying to hold laughter back.  
"I might regret that somewhere soon." he admitted.  
"Probably." "But I'm not going to dance for him. Not drunk enough for that."  
"But for me you are?"  
Jack smiled crookedly. "I'm always drunk enough for you."  
Their eyes locked for a second, and then Merida smiled. "Go on, show me. I've already humiliated myself. Your turn."  
Jack took a deep breath and met her eyes.  
His head started whipping to the tact of the music.  
"Hey, I know this song." Merida said.  
"_If I could write you a song and make you fall in love, I would already have you up under my arm. I used up all my tricks, I hope that you like this. But you probably won't, you think you're cooler than me._" Jack sung or rather bellowed, readjusting his glasses which were now freckled with water drops.  
Merida laughed as he fell to his knees and started playing an imaginative guitar. Her remark that there was no actual guitar in the song however got stuck in her throat and so did her laughter as her gaze wandered over his spread legs in his now almost completely soaked through pants. Merida swallowed hard.  
She was almost relieved as he stood up again. Jack wrapped his fingers around the dance pole and used it as a microphone, singing so excessively sultry at it that it made her laugh again.  
"Dead signing babes? What is that supposed to mean? That's the wrong text!" she yelled when he didn't have any clue what he was singing anymore.  
"Is it?" Jack asked jokingly.  
Merida walked closer to him, her hips swaying lightly with the music, and placed her left hand a little over his on the pole.  
"_See I got you, all figured out. You meet everyone's eyes just to feel seen._" she continued. Her eyebrows rose up as he let one hand slip from the pole and made a step closer to her.  
Jack looked as if the lyrics were coming back to him. "_Girl you're so vain, you probably think that this song is about you. Don't you?_"  
"_Don't you?_" she echoed, mimicking his step.  
Their faces were only centimetres apart now, and Merida's hand slipped down the bar and covered his. She boldly raised her free hand and ran it through his hair, tousling it again after the water had put it down. Jack's breath stopped for a second.  
His arm then looped around her waist and his fingers dug into the navy blue of her dress. Merida leaned back into him, so close their noses were touching and he could count the drops spread over her face.  
Of course, that moment Aster knocked the little table they'd been sitting on, over, with a loud enough bang for Rapunzel to abruptly wake up from her sleep and Jack and Merida to jerk apart as if the water had burned them. Aster leapt into the direction of the bar and Rapunzel, still sleepy, stumbled after him. The two others ran out of the shower and took up the pursuit, both of them leaving a wet trace behind them.  
"Wait! I have to get my jacket!"  
Merida groaned. "You're hopeless! Why do you even have one with you? It's like-" She tried for a moment to calculate the temperature, and failed miserably. "-very hot out there."  
"Not the only hot thing here." Jack murmured and shot her a quick glance, her figure still enveloped in the wet dress.  
Merida blushed, but she snapped: "You're nuts."  
"I'm wasted, that's a difference!"

It had started with the obviously slaughtered man hitting on Astrid. Hiccup had still been in disbelief about how good the evening was going. He loved talking to this girl. She was funny, intelligent, and seemed to find him nice too. He couldn't believe his luck. Maybe it was the alcohol.  
The man had rudely tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey! Dance for me!"  
Astrid had turned around, anger in her eyes. "No, I won't! First, that was disrespectful and asshole-y. I'm okay with my job, but not if it's for guys like you. Second, I am talking to my friend here. Not available now. Sorry." She'd taken her attention back to Hiccup.  
Hiccup wanted to make a comment about the whole 'friend' business, but the man interrupted him before he could do so.  
"Hey, what's better on this little gay chick than on me?" the man bullied.  
"Hey, dude, that's not cool." Hiccup said calmly.  
"Shut up, you girlie." the man slurred.  
"Dude, come on. Leave the girl alone." one of his two friends said, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
"And the stripper too." the third man said jokingly.  
"What!" Hiccup exclaimed.  
"I am no stripper!" Astrid screeched.  
"Same difference." the second guy said and patted her shoulder. Astrid swept his hand away.  
"Hey!" the man groaned upset.  
"Leave her alone!" Hiccup said, still keeping his calm. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking, or his affection, or probably both.  
"Wanna start a fight?" the guy murmured threatening.  
"Let it go." North barged in.  
"Does the little girl need the protection of her grandfather?"  
"Okay, that's rude." North, who was only forty-one, rolled up his sleeves.  
The other guy was faster and punched him in the stomach. North crocked up and groaned in pain.  
Hiccup stood up, and Astrid followed his steps.  
"Don't do anything more." Hiccup said. "This girl is quite good at beating up people. Seriously, you don't want to get a share of that."  
"Oh, you're the kind who likes to get a little S and M, hmm?" one of his friends mocked.  
Hiccup made a few steps. "Oh, shut up!"  
Astrid held him back. "It's not worth it." she hissed.  
"Stop insulting them!" North had stood up again.  
The moment, Aster and Rapunzel joined in.  
"What's going on?" Rapunzel demanded, exceptionally awake for someone with her amount of booze in her blood.  
"Oh, then the grandpa and this one are your parents?" the third man giggled at his own joke.  
"Okay." The barman stepped in, his voice louder than the others. He hadn't seen the punch. "That's enough. Nothing has happened yet. You can still lay low and leave each other alone."  
"Who leaves who alone?" Merida asked. She and Jack were soaked to their skins, for a reason Hiccup didn't quite get, except for Jack's jacket which was hanging on his shoulder.  
"It's nothing. The guy hit on Astrid and insulted me. It's really nothing." Hiccup said. His calm was back.  
"Everything clear?" the bartender asked.  
"Yes, sir." North nodded.  
The barman went back to the other end of the bar.  
"Everything alright?" Rapunzel asked and walked over to Hiccup and Astrid at the bar.  
"Yes. I am Astrid, by the way."  
"I remember. Hiccup's self-defence instructor." she exchanged a glance with Hiccup, who was begging her with his eyes not to say something stupid "He…mentioned you, I guess. I'm Rapunzel."  
Aster, Jack and Merida followed her, the two last ones still leaving a trail of water.  
"You know what?" the first man was talking again "Screw the gal in the bathrobe. I want what the wet chick gave the dude."  
Jack and Merida looked up simultaneously.  
"Oh, I didn't think they would do that in here."  
"Maybe it's just her."  
"Do you think she gave it to him good?" the first man spoke again.  
Jack turned slowly around, his eyes flashing with anger. "Excuse me…"  
The man interrupted him. "And, was it good?"  
Jack looked as if he wanted to insult him.  
Merida however simply spun around, and her fist hit the man right onto the nose. He fell over backwards, instantly unconscious.  
All movement around the bar almost froze in an instant, as if Merida's punch had silenced the stereo too.  
Jack pushed his glasses up his nose. "So much for 'knock yourself out'." he said surprised, with undeniable admiration in his voice.

"I am sorry I got us thrown out." Merida said contrite, her arms folded closely over her chest.  
"You think any of us is mad at you for that?" Aster said.  
"I would've done the same." Rapunzel said, her green eyes burning with fury.  
"And I would've paid for that sight." North laughed.  
"Want me to do that to you, big man?" she challenged him.  
"Oooooh, you have to watch out!" Hiccup said and then giggled.  
"You're awfully cheerful." Rapunzel bumped her elbow into his rib cage.  
"I am in looooooooove!" Hiccup yelled into the Californian night sky, taking out his phone and waving with his free hand. A few numbers were sprawled across it.  
"Are you feeling…guilty or something?" Jack asked Merida in a low voice.  
"What? No, why?"  
"You're still crossing your arms…and don't talk. You should've made like three jokes by now." he said slowly.  
Merida shot him an unnerved glance. "There is a slight disagreement between some parts of my body, the wet dress and the fresh breeze."  
Jack looked clueless. "What?"  
Merida shot her cleavage a meaningful glance.  
"Oh." Jack's eyes got stuck there too, trying to see past her hands.  
"Jack!" she slapped his shoulder "Stop staring!"  
"Sorry, sorry!" Jack was grinning, showing that he wasn't sorry at all. Then he took his jacket from his shoulder and handed it to her. "Take it."  
Merida looked surprised at him. "What?"  
Jack draped the cloth on her shoulders.  
"Just take it." he whispered to her ear before letting her go.  
Merida pulled the jacket closer and smiled. "Thanks."

They wandered aimlessly around San Francisco until the sun went up – which meant for about an hour, with about sixteen hours until their deadline. When the sun rose, they were on a lonely observation platform, looking out on the Golden Gate Bridge. Rapunzel was lying on one of the picnic tables and sniffled peacefully in her sleep. Aster and Merida were sitting on the table next to it while Hiccup had been gone for a while into the bushes behind them. North and Jack were standing a little farther away.  
"How was the night?" North asked, smiling fondly at the scenery.  
"It was…okay." Jack said hesitantly.  
North shot him a deadpan glance, as far as it was possible with his nice nature. "Why do you always do this?"  
"Do what?"  
"Play everything down. You act like you're the coolest kid far and wide, nothing ever gets to you. That's not you, Jack. That's not your centre."  
"Centre? What?"  
"What I want to say is you would be so much better if there wasn't that façade. It's a shame." North grumbled.  
"What do you want to hear? That it was the best night of my life?"  
"Only if it's true." North said.  
Jack sighed. "Fine. It was amazing. Are you happy now?"  
"A little, yes." North grinned broadly at him.  
Jack smirked back.  
"And what about the girl?" North nodded over to Merida. "Is she amazing too?"  
"Shut up." Jack groaned, and North laughed in his deep bass.  
"Is that a yes?" his mentor teased. Jack only buried his head in his hands.

"Are you okay, mate?" Aster whispered to Merida.  
Already used to his nickname for anyone and anything, Merida smiled. "I am. Why are you asking?"  
"Because of the shower incident, actually."  
"I am surprised you can still pronounce incidi…nicide…the thing." Merida half joked.  
Aster shrugged non-committedly. "I just thought about it. After everything you told me, you hit it off pretty well in that club."  
Merida bit her lower lip. "Okay. My mom…she always tried to push me towards a relationship. And I didn't know…I wasn't ready…and then came my studies and I didn't have time anymore…I feel like I missed out on that part."  
"I understand you. But you're twenty-two. You have the rest of your life to try it out. Don't tell me you're just flinging yourself on the first guy you see, even more because that guy is your co-worker with whom you have to get along for almost two months at least."  
"Aster!" Merida tried to keep her voice low. "It's not like that! I can't believe you think I'm that cheap!"  
"I don't, that's why I was so surprised!"  
"Aster, I am pretty drunk." Merida defended herself, but then got all flustered. "And he's not the first guy I see. I…" she sighed "I like him."  
"You do?" Aster seemed surprised.  
Merida groaned frustrated. "I know. I'm hopeless." She sunk her head against his shoulder.  
Aster wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. "Hey, for someone who has no experience with this, you played him like it was nothing."  
Merida blushed. "Oh, please don't."

The moment, their discussion got interrupted by Hiccup's return. He was holding his phone in the hand, the big grin still on which hadn't left his lips since they'd gotten thrown out of the club.  
"Astrid?" North took a wild guess. He and Jack had come over as they'd seen Hiccup.  
"Oh yeah. Been texting her for the last hour." Hiccup laughed. "And now she's going to get a picture of lil' Hicks that I just took when I was peeing."  
His friends' expression changed abruptly. Merida and Aster leapt forward to get Hiccup's phone, while Jack just started laughing.  
"Hicks, what is the square of seventeen?" he asked.  
"Easy." the drunk man answered  
"Two hundred eighty-nine."  
"Too easy. What about the square root?" Aster said.  
"Somewhere around two? Five? Seventy-two?" Hiccup murmured clueless.  
North however looked as if he'd just got struck by lightning. "That's it! That's our app! Can we make an app which asks you questions before you can send off a message or take a call when you're drunk?"  
"North, I can program that for you in my sleep." Rapunzel commented from the table next to them, turning her head to him.  
"Then that's settled." North picked her up as if she'd weigh nothing.  
"Hey, what are you doing?"  
"Taking you all back home to get a few hours of sleep before we tackle that app. Unfortunately, none of you is sober enough to do it right now and I have no clue how it works, so you need a bit of rest."  
"Mate, you are brilliant." Aster said as the whole company moved.  
Rapunzel rubbed her face sheepishly, and then paused, looking at her fingers. "Is there something on my face?"  
Merida, Aster and Jack were suddenly way more interested in the scenery than before.

"Rapunzel can run very fast." Jack was still impressed. As soon as they'd reached the campus and she'd been able to free herself from North, she'd gone to get a mirror – and the ballpoint pen traces off her face.  
"Quick like a bunny!" Hiccup gave a drunk, but quite convincing imitation of what North had said before he and Aster had gone into the opposite direction to their apartment.  
"Okay, dude, you better go to sleep now." Jack said and gently pushed Hiccup into the apartment.  
"None of you gonna tuck me in?"  
His friends exchanged an amused glance.  
"Nope, sorry. The only one who's going to tuck you in in the near future is Astrid." Merida declined.  
"_That's_ a thought I can hold on to. Still your loss. Night!" Hiccup shrugged and slammed the door behind him.  
Jack and Merida walked back in silence to the girls' apartment.  
"What a crazy night." Merida sighed when they arrived at her door and turned around to face him.  
"It was fun though." Jack smirked.  
"It was." Merida smiled back, then looked down and bit her lower lip.  
Jack got caught up in the sight of the slight embarrassment written on her round face framed by lightly moist curls, his eyes wandering from her slightly flushed cheeks to her big sky blue eyes which shyly searched his again.  
He groaned frustrated and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, this between us…I know I shouldn't do this, and I blame like sixty-five per cent on the booze. But I like you. I really do, and not just because of that…show you put on tonight. Although that was really, really…" he shuddered from the memory. "I'm digressing from the subject. I'm just not sure about us right now, with the internship going on and all. It would be the most reasonable not to do anything, especially not tonight. That being said…"  
Jack leapt forward and pushed her against the wall, kissing her senselessly. Merida was surprised for a second – this was different from any kiss she'd ever gotten, because she could feel he wanted her, kissed her for her, not for the kiss itself, and it was so much more intense, so much more passionate than anything she'd ever known before - but then she felt herself kissing him back. One of her hands knotted into his hair, pulling him closer, and the other one slipped over his back into the back pocket of his jeans.  
His fingers softly retraced her jawline and then wandered down, sliding over his own coat and folding it back. Her dress was still a little damp from the shower, and it showed every curve of her body. He let his hand run down her side, his fingers tracing the arch of her breast. Merida gasped and pushed him away.  
"Sorry. Alcohol really doesn't make me reasonable." Jack breathed heavily. He looked a little contrite at her, but she was seemingly plunged in thoughts.  
"Okay, no, I'm drunk enough for this." she decided and pulled him closer again, slipping her tongue right into his slightly gaping mouth.  
Jack took up his trail over her body. His fingers danced over her collarbone and then further down again. He could feel her tremble beneath his curious touch.  
He let his thumb slowly brush over her erected tip, always waiting for her to flinch, but she didn't object to it. He added a little more pressure and caressed it slowly. The circular movement eased a sweet moan out of her, and she pressed her body closer to his, until there was no space left between them, wrapping her arms around his waist. Jack supported her neck and his hand went up again to cup her cheek. The kiss got slower and he moaned softly against her lips.  
That moment, she pushed him away.  
Jack let immediately go off her, his expression a little hurt.  
Merida could read it perfectly. "No! No, I'm not…I didn't mean it like that. It's just that…if this goes further, we have to get inside. Rapunzel is in there, scrubbing pen marks from her face. And I agree with you, it's a very, very bad idea to take this any further while the internship is going. I don't like saying this, but maybe it's best that we wait until it's over, for good or for worse. So, if there is still something between us in two months, maybe we can give it another shot."  
Jack frowned. "I understand that, yeah. It's a pity, but okay. Sounds legit."  
"Okay. That being said…" Merida grabbed the front of his t-shirt and pulled his lips on top of hers again, biting them teasingly. Surprised, he returned the kiss passionately, knowing dully it was probably the last one he was going to get for a while. However, she broke it soon, pulling away with obvious refusal.  
"What was that for?" Jack asked, licking his lips.  
"Just stealing one kiss for the way." She winked. "Sleep well for the three hours we presumably have before North throws us out of bed again." Merida taunted him and pushed his glasses, which had slid down to the tip of his nose during their making out session up his nose before she disappeared into the apartment.  
Jack stood frozen for a moment, and then turned around, whistling Mike Posner into the night sky.  
Maybe waiting for her was worth it. Well, assumed that they would still be able to remember everything after all they'd drunk.

* * *

That's it! Any feedback?


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